docelboze

Origins Event Reg Rant.

Wed, 13 May 2009 03:40:40 GMT

OK I'm sure others are posting similar complaints on their blogs today, and I'm occasionally one to beat a dead horse. I mean I don't want to get off on a rant here, but...

HOW HARD CAN IT POSSIBLY BE TO GET AN EVENT REGISTRATION SYSTEM THAT WORKS?!?!?!
Especially when it's like, I dunno one of your major functions for the annual convention. Really I know working with gamers is like herding cats, but what percentage of your customers are IT geeks that are REALLY turned off by things not working smoothly? Folks who then rightly or wrongly think they could do it better and get angered and eventually vote with their feet?
I mean c'mon are they just not willing to spend the cash? Or is it that this is mainly done with volunteer support? What gives. Every year we go through this, every year they promise "We'll fix it next year" and it never does... It should not have taken me 4hrs to try to check out only to have things freeze and make me now scared what happened to my first pass of CC info. It finally did go through, giving me a receipt which I can use to raise hell when things are oversold like I'm betting they will be as a result, but it was just painful.

Crusader's Chronicles II

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:36:17 GMT

And now the conclusion of our transition chronicle...

So we open the scene exactly where we left it. Sorcerer Blue lecturing the Crusaders East and West about the importance of having "The Supreme." Titannos has decided that well, Questor wasn't really human after all and he didn't really like him so we'll leave him behind. The rest of the team really wasn't in favor of that, and the usual arguments with Titannos ensued. Then a ripple in reality occurred, like the bendy effect in the Matrix movies. Reality literally kinda folded back around to reveal someone. When it was done, there stood Questor, but he was dressed like a ninja, toting an arsenal of weapons and holding a Quarterstaff.

Some scrutiny from the gathered and it was determined that this was an "Alternate" Questor (now played by me). Ninja-Questor came from an alternate timeline, far far in the future. So long in the future that his memories of the "Enforcers" (his realities Crusaders) are a little fuzzy. He long ago was stripped of his magical abilities. He filled in the party that Questor had been taken by the Gith, and they wanted him to be the focus to destroy the Mind-Flayers. Ninja-Questor claims that if he can stop the process, he won't lose his magical talents and things from his past won't be so horribly bad.

Sorcerer Blue kept saying in his eerie unearthly voice, this was not "the Supreme" Titannos suggested well now we have an Elf, we can go home. He might not be the supreme but he was always more of a meat lovers kinda guy anyways. After more debate, Blue was convinced that he could use the connection between this Questor and his other self to find our intrepid hero.

Now what the team did not know is that in my Ninja-Questor back story he was told that he was sent here to make sure that the the Illithid bomb went off. If he didn't his timeline would never get created. It also served to reunify the splintered Questors, stabilizing the Multiverse. (Holy Comic-booky, Batman!).

Sorcerer blue took the group into the astral. Some minor infighting occurred as Ninja-Questor tried to bring Titannos into line with the plan, shut him up and generally move things along. Then the Gith attacked. Titannos launched himself through the bottom of thier ship, and managed to knock most of the Gith off the ship using the vessel's stone mast as a massive club. Meanwhile the rest mopped the floor with the ones he missed. Ninja-Questor managed to get a hold of one of their quicksilver looking blades. The Crusaders boarded the vessel. Blue guided it and them to the citadel holding their Questor.

The Lich queen was ready for this, and set up a massive barrier using the Gith's collective minds to power it. As they approached they witnessed the massive egg with swirling green anti-life within it. Titannos hurled the mast at her as she was "monologuing" hoping to get in a lucky shot. The stone just slowly disintegrated as it hit the barrier. "It's a mind shield, I cannot break it," Explained Blue, "it will take an impossible shot." Fortunately Chance is well, lucky. Ninja-Questor handed him the quicksilver blade. "Use this. Warrior, you and Warp best run and pull my counterpart off that thing. It CAN'T explode as long as he's not on it. They'll likely have told him lies as to how it works, so trust me you need to pull him off it!" (Earning a typical glare and a "You're a bad bad man" from my GM that I was particularly proud of...)

The shot taken, the queen distracted, the barrier falls, and Warp rushes to Questor and starts -against his wishes to pull him off the egg. Questor is unable to cast anything outside the null magic bubble he and the egg were encased in. The act of separating him would activate the bomb by allowing his magic to come in contact with the egg. The Gith KNEW that his team would come to rescue him, and figured they tould turn it to their advantage. They had rigged it so the act of removing him ignited the explosion. Not able to dissuade his companions, Mage-Questor did the only thing he could thing of - he altered the fluid to something that destroyed himself. Mage-Questor was, of course safe and sound inside a nice anti-magic bubble as the now purple liquid exploded out into the multiverse. The gathered see as many ghostly images of the "Supreme" began to flow into his body. The "Supreme" was once again unique in the multiverse.

With that, the next panel pops The Crusaders back on the island, with nothing all that different from when they left.

Poly Sci Meme

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:51:19 GMT

So BHM innocent_man asked us to do this meme. For what ever reason this seemed to interest me. Some of the attitudes might surprise those who think I'm just the "right wing looney" that plays games with him. Others might not be so surprised...
Anyway, here's the meme...
[01] Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Nope.

[02] Abortion: Pro Life, or Pro Choice?
Pro-choice. Though, honestly, I don't think a candidates views on THIS ONE SUBJECT it impacts how I'd vote. In other words it's not a so called "litmus-test" for me. Being on the opposite side of this would be a strike against the candidate, but not a deal breaker.

[03] Do you think the United States would fail with a female president?
Nope. Gender/Sex doesn't equate to smarts and political savvy. Just equals how you chromosomes decided to aggregate or with which "role" you choose to identify.

[04] Do you believe in the death penalty?
Much as I hat to admit it, in principle yes in practice not so much. Sometimes no matter what we do, society is better off with some assuming room temp. Not for vengeance, not for punishment, but for the good of the "tribe" as it were. Have we (the US) implemented it well? I don't think so either. I'm only for using it when there's little likelihood of rehabilitation. And then after we've done what we can to make sure we know what makes them tick, and can interrupt/prevent similar problems in the future.

[05] Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Wish it would, no. Don't really think about it much. I do think it should be, yes.

[06] Are you for or against premarital sex?
Umm, for it? I'm a realist, it happens, has happened and will always happen. Being for or against it seems irrelevant. It doesn't change my opinion one way or the 'tother about people. Some people believe it's important to wait, some don't. Who am I to suggest what works. There's enuff evidence to show it seems to be unrelated to happiness, so meh.

[07] Do you believe in God?
Yes.

[08] Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Legalized of course! I'm fairly weird on this. The societal contract is a legal issue and should be allowable by any K individuals who wish to enter into such a contract. Ok, ok, I'm alright with limiting it to "humans" and non-relatives, but the contract is up to the parties involved. I want non-religious unions to be called something else. To me MARRIAGE is between you and the "Man Upstairs". So that's something defined by the doctrine of your beliefs. That means and I believe that it can be against a groups religions beliefs and well within their "free expression" to say they don't recognize certain "unions" as a "marriage". If your belief set says men can't "marry" women then you can't have a man-woman "marriage" under that church. It's a free market baby, so go down the street to the heterosexual friendly group and move the f on. I don't feel it's "discriminatory" for a group to not grant you a label. A civil contract between two parties can not be ruled by such doctrine, that's discriminatory. It's a square vs. rectangle argument to me all "marriages" are "civil unions" but not all "civil unions" are "marriages". If we could divorce those terms (see what I did there?) it would move the debate forward. I'd argue that an AWEFUL lot of heterosexual "marriages" should really be "civil unions".

[09] Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
Wrong, hrmmm I don't like that word. Wrong morally, well not really. They're fleeing a crappy situation and trying to better themselves so no I don't think it's wrong. I do think it's ILLEGAL. Like it or not ILLEGAL immigration is just that - ILLEGAL, so on some level yes what they are doing is wrong. They do themselves and those who try to get in line correctly a disservice. Should we relax restrictions and allow more LEGAL Hispanic immigrants into the country is a different argument than should we prevent ILLEGAL immigration.

[10] A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
Arrgh the ambiguity of these questions - which I'm aware is intentional...
Should she keep it, in my mind no. Someone with more life experience, responsibility and hell a more developed cortex SHOULD raise the child. Should she be allowed to keep it if she wants HELL YES! But that should be her call, and her legal guardians call (sorry mommy or not at age 12 I don't think someone has the required mental decision making skills to make an educated choice here...)

[11] Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
Meh, I'd love to say yes, cause honestly age is just a number and hell kids drink underage all the time. And there are some mighty responsible 16 year olds and some damned irresponsible 30 year olds I know. But so long as we Americans have the more is better and a lot more is WAY better attitude that we have, I'm on the fence here. Were we to have a Euro attitude to ethanol, maybe we could lower it or even remove it. Maybe the 70's had it right with 3.2 beer @ 18, harder stuff later. Dunno.

[12] Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Agreed with BHM, I'm not Sun Tzu, but it's not a simple answer. I'd like to see our folks out of harms way and back with their families. But pulling out creates a power vaccuum and that probably started some of this mess in the 1st place. What we really need to do is find more sources of black gold (or it's as yet mythical replacement) and tell 'em to f-off, we don't need you and we're not giving you anymore money.

[13] Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?
I don't like the idea that if I've decided, and it makes rational sense, that the quality of life makes it worth ending it, that I can't ask for help. Having said that, I am concerned about what I think someone called "the culture of death" that can develop from such attitudes. Dax's case is a real life account where the author wanted to be allowed to die, and he wasn't. Now he's a successful author, and sort of makes the case that he probably shouldn't have been allowed to die, yet he still argues that they shoudn't have stopped him - but he keeps on enjoying the life he has now.

[14] Do you believe in spanking your children?
I don't think it's harmful in moderation, but it can't be in anger or overused.

[15] Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
Depends on who's paying me and why. It is a symbol of our country, but it's JUST a symbol.

[16] Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?
Palin. :) Seriously though I really don't know. I fear McCain will be more of the same on the social issues that I think Bush got so wrong, and that the Republican Machine will continue all of the policies that brought us to this crappy place now. I haven't drunk "the Messiah's" coolaid, but if he is what he says he is, then maybe he's the better candidate. I fear the choices of Mr. Obama will be popular, but not be the best way out of our current problems, and might even prolong some of them. Frankly I don't see how we'll be able to afford his promises, when we can't afford things now. I have argued that I am a man w/o a candidate since they were decided. But that's been true since I could vote really. It saddens me that I have more in common politically with a group that will unlikely ever come to power (Libertarians) than the partisan sides that control our Gub'ment. I don't think of myself as being on the fringe, but sadly rationality and reasoned approaches to problems seem to be on the fringe of things in Washington. No one want's reasoned solutions, cause they take time and don't quick fix things, and won't get you reelected because the fixes won't be seen until you kids are voting.

[17] Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Afraid, no. I learned long ago to not sweat what Mrs. Grundy thinks. If people don't like me for what I think/believe fuck-em. As Pop-eye says, I am who I am. I try not to be too in your face about certain views or and to be accepting of both sides, and look for reasoned stuff. Someone can't deal with that I'm prolly better off not talking to them...

That said, I am a leo and we just want everyone to wuv us, so... :)

Anyhew that's the Meme. 2 posts in as many days. A record for me...

Crusader's Chronicles

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:08:09 GMT

OK So we started a new game in my Tuesday night group and well I'm trying to A) record this crap. B) Post more on my LJ.
It's only a transitional game 2-3 sessions to stall while some Real Life(TM) stuff happens to a couple of the players and the next GM in the troupe get's his act together. I love this particular campaign/group of characters. Questor is a fun character, cross the Joker (well not Heath's, more Jack's) with Doc Strange and throw in a little more silliness. The power levels are near Godlike -- 900pt GURPS 4th ed supers will do that. If he wants to do it mostly he can. This is fun thwarting my GM's plans in ways he never thought of. But the four-color power level makes it so it's hard to play for extended periods of time and feel challenged, so I'm glad we're only using it as a transition.

The back story is long, but I provide it here for your amusement and cause my GM went through the trouble of compiling our misadventures. From there I'll lead into what happened last night. But for starters here are the principles:

Current Roster of East Coast Crusaders
PC's
Questor: Team Leader. Archmage and Supreme Sorcerer of the Prime Realm Elven prankster, think "Puck" (my character.)
Virus: Living Metal Nanomorph. Reprogrammed T-1000 turned into a "perfect" wife (well maybe by 50's definition).
Titannos: The strongest man on Earth. And we don't just mean the smell.
Chance: Extreme Sports Icon and capable of probability defying feats.

Key NPC's
Matrix: Deputy Leader, Our eye in the sky. An awakened AI of IMMENSE power. Skynet, but as one of the good guys. Well we think.
Warp: Speedster of the first order.

Crusaders Backstory
Once upon a time… In a Galaxy far, far away….

60,000,000 BC- Alien race later named the "Seeders" enters Sol system. Using their technology they modify Earth's climate destroying the dinosaurs.

500,000 BC- Seeders return and perform genetic modifications on Homo erectus, the ancestor of mankind.

495,000 BC- A series of solar flares alters the Seeders implanted gene structure, suppressing the power traits of Homo erectus.

400,000 BC- Homo sapiens appear.

35,000 BC- First true modern humans appear.

35,000 BC to 1924 AD- The Seeder gene remains dormant, only occasionally manifesting creating, what many believe, are the figures
of legend.

1924 AD- The wave front from a stellar explosion bathes the Earth with a massive amount of Gamma radiation. This re-activates the Seeder gene in many humans.

After this event Metahumans began to appear in the world. Individuals that possessed incredible abilities and powers, some of which were helpful, some not so much.

Their acceptance into society was mixed. During World War II metahumans appeared on the battle field, fighting for both the Axis
and the Allied forces. As time passed, the world grew accepting, for the most part of the metahumans. They became the stuff of popular culture, movies, product spokespersons and even politicians.

Groups of metahumans banded together to form Superteams, most of the time protecting their city, occasionally expanding their operations to a global scale. Also, metahuman criminals joined together to further their own goals/plots.

Of these teams the most well known was the, then New York City based, Crusaders. Lead by an older and well known hero named "American Eagle" the Crusaders set the standard for modern superteams. In 1991 in a battle atop their base, the Crusader's Citadel, American Eagle was killed by a power armored villain named Centurion.

After American Eagle's death his 2nd in command a young Martial artist/speedster named Warrior took over as the leader of the
Crusaders. In the next few years he and the Crusaders did battle against Centurion and his Legion, and several other criminal groups across the country. All the while Warrior continued to recruit new members to the team, even turning two of Centurion's former Legionnaires, Kraken and Firestorm, into Crusaders.

The team grew until Warrior decided to expand the team into separate groups to protect cities at different points throughout the country. Warrior sent his second in command Disruptor to lead a group L.A. While he stayed and recruited a new group in New York.

In a public announcement he put forth the call to metahumans to join this new group. The response was best summed up with "Be careful what you wish for… you may get it". The individuals that answered his call were as varied as they were powerful.

Virus: Nanomorph; a robot comprised of nanites, forming a collective brain. It is essentially living metal, capable of dividing itself, forming multiple limbs, fantastically sharp weapons and clinging to walls.

Matrix: A.I. A sentient computer. Capable of building and controlling robots to carry out its wishes.

Questor: Archmage; The supreme sorcerer of the "Prime Realm". Originally from an alternative dimension were creatures of myth and fantasy rule. One of the few remaining of his race. (Elf)

Later they encountered a powerful telekinetic who could travel through space at faster than light speeds, she named herself Aurora, but had no memory of who she was or where she had come from. That question was answered when a spherical starship, nearly the size of our moon, came to earth and took up orbit around it. It was revealed that she had been created by the commander of the planetship, a being known as The Overlord. Possessing technology far more advanced than earths he brought a warning to the people of earth. A race that threatened to wipe out organic life in the galaxy, called the "Monad" was on their way to earth. He came from an alliance of worlds that had made him supreme ruler in exchange for protecting them from the Monad threat. He offered earth the same deal. It was declined and a battle commenced between the Crusaders and the Overlord. It ended only when the Monad arrived and the Crusaders discovered, Virus was actually a reprogrammed member of the Monad race. Creating a destructive invasive
program and using Virus to join their collective the Overlord was able to destroy the Monad invasion before it reached Earth. Weakened by the battle with the Monad and Crusaders he retreated from earth. During the battle Matrix had hacked the Overlord's central computer to discover his true wish was to conduct genetic modifications on the humans of earth that possessed the "Meta-gene. By doing this he could create a loyal metahuman army serving him and his goals of the conquest of the galaxy.

Not long after, during a battle with their old nemesis Centurion and his newly formed Legion, the Crusaders were attacked and some captured when Disrupter, leader of the West Coast Crusaders turned on the team and allied himself with Centurion. During a battle at the ultra-secret Area 51 air force base Centurion introduced his newest ally, the daughter of the Arch-fiend of hell Asmodeus himself, Glasya. She provided the magical power needed to capture Questor. The team escaped and with the help of a guilt riddled Disruptor, defeated Centurion and his Legion. During the battle a captured alien ship was damaged and caused its stardrive to go critical. The resulted in a massive explosion which destroyed Area 51, Disruptor and Centurion were killed, because NO ONE could have survived THAT blast…

In the aftermath of Disrupter's death, Warrior left the east coast team to take over command of the now leaderless west coast Crusaders. Questor was named as replacement for team leader.

Time passed, many adventures happened including an encounter with a time manipulator by the name of Dr. Q. During the encounter it was discovered that Dr. Q had discovered Virus when it had first crash landed on earth in ancient Greece. He had reprogrammed it to act as his companion (yes it's what you think). He would send her to retrieve things for him and assist him in his time manipulations efforts to bring about a "more ordered", even trying to engineer a victory for Nazi Germany in World War II. During one of these missions for Dr. Q, Virus was damaged and did not return. Dr. Q believed he had lost "her".

Not long after the encounter with Dr. Q a world wide crisis arose, the walls between dimensions and time began to break down. The Crusaders while fighting to restore the dimensional barriers discovered it was Centurion, who had been believed dead, had in fact returned and was the cause of the crisis. The Crusaders battled him and his Legion in the lower level of the New York museum of art. The Crusaders suffered a crushing defeat and Centurion won possession of the artifact buried beneath the floor of the museum, a giant red crystal known as the "Reality Gem". This artifact could convert thoughts of its possessor to reality; however, it came at a cost. It drained all mana from the area it operated in. To power it to the levels they needed Centurion
and his ally Glasya took the Gem to the stronghold of the Lord of the Nine Hells itself and placed it in the portal at it lowest level. This portal, known as the "Well of the Worlds" tapped into the dimensional energies in all time and space. With the Gem's power Centurion imprisoned all of the Arch Devils, including Asmodeous himself, and began his plans of conquest. The Crusaders arrived with allies from other realms to stop him. In the ensuing battle Questor drove Glasya into the Well of the Worlds, instantly destroying her. Using an Ally known as the "Wraith King", who had the ability to stop the flow of mana, the indestructible Reality Gem was thrown into the Well of Worlds and lost forever. An important note to mention, the Arch devils
talismans containing their essence, which had been gathered by Centurion to control them, had fallen away into a bottomless pit in the portal room. All save one. The Archfiend Asmodeus, his talisman came into the possession of the Crusaders.

When the Crusader's returned to their world they found themselves displaced in time (an after effect of the reality gem's entrance to the Well of the Worlds). They arrived 20 years in the future. They found the world conquered and controlled by the Overlord. They met Warrior, who was operating a resistance against the Overlord's forces, and were told what had happened.

After the team had gone after the Reality Gem the world appeared to return to normal. Although for the team that had entered Hell, it was NOT the past they remembered. Instead of the metahumans of the world forming their own teams, the UN had created the International Super Teams. They protected member countries from embassies around the world. There were private super teams, but much fewer than before. Warrior explained to the team after they had left for Hell, the world was approached a few weeks later by a race known as the Kronin. They brought a warning of another enemy from space. The antithesis of the mechanical Monad collective, known as The System. A race of organic parasites that fed on worlds. The Kronin offered to stand with earth
so both their races could survive. They met with the UN and as the meeting got underway it was attacked by an entity known as the Void. It killed all the UN delegates and made it appear to the people of earth the Kronin had setup the attack to weaken them for conquest. Earth and its heroes attacked the more advanced Kronin fleet. Instead of fighting back against a vastly inferior foe, the Kronin left earth. Unfortunately the warning they had brought was only too real. The System attacked an unprepared Earth and nearly decimated it. During mankind's struggle against the creatures, the Overlord returned and offered his assistance, for a price. He told the people of Earth he would rid them of The System, and demonstrated the ability to do so, IF, they turned over the metahumans of the world to him. In such a desperate hour earth's people turned on its heroes to save themselves and their families from the genocidal System. Upon delivery of the first metahumans Overlord began to destroy The System with a
genetically crafted virus. In a matter of days the conquerors became the conquered. The Overlord stayed on to "help rebuild" the earth and eventually though manipulation, bribes of life easing technology and cloned replacement of leaders was given control of the world.

As soon as the Overlord took control of the Earth he quickly ferreted out Matrix in his hidden bases and destroyed him. Or so he believed…

The group joined Warrior and his resistance in this alternate future. The group that had come from the past included a robot of Matrix's, when he met Warrior's tech expert of this future team, Brainstorm, it was discovered he was a biological storage unit of the Matrix AI. Matrix had downloaded himself into a microframe implanted in Brainstorm's brain. With the information from the future, Questor decided to try to contact Dr. Q, in this time, to return them to before The System arrived.

The Overlord, alerted to the presence of the Crusaders from the past, sent a large force to the site of Dr. Q's base to stop them. He very nearly succeeded, by using Sorcerer Blue, a powerful mage and former close ally of Questor, who had been enslaved and conditioned to serve the enemy. The Crusaders prevailed and with the assistance of Dr. Q returned 20 years to the past.

Upon arrival, they found the Kronin had already arrived and contacted the UN. The Crusaders persuaded the UN and IST to allow them to setup precautions to prevent the disaster that caused the future they had witnessed. When the Kronin delegation arrived the Crusaders were in place with IST personnel. The Void appeared and began to attack. It was held at bay until it teleported past the intervening guards and attempted to draw the Kronin leader and Questor into its singularity. Warrior threw himself into Questor and the leader of the aliens saving them, but in doing so he was draw into the black hole of the Void and was killed instantly. The Void was then driven off by the gathered metahumans.

After Warrior's sacrifice, the Kronin leader pledged his support to the earth and its defense. The combined IST forces and the Kronin armada began to prepare. To insure success against The System, Questor sent out a call to all independent super teams in the world. Gathering them together they were organized and dispatched to key areas across the globe. With the fore knowledge of the attack at their disposal Questor and Matrix coordinated the defense of Earth.

The battle for earth began as sleeper agents, humans infected by infiltration units of The System, sprang to life around the world to lead System creatures as they invaded from space. The battle raged across the earth until The System's central mind was driven into the sun.

In the aftermath of the battle the Kronin allied themselves with earth after the combined victory over The System. The Crusaders regrouped and begun recruiting to strengthen the team. Questor became dark and despondent, barely involving himself with operations of the Crusaders, leaving Matrix to coordinate most things. Susan Winthrop, Firestorm of the West Coast Crusader team and Warrior's lover, left active duty after Warrior's death. The countries of the earth began to rebuild in the wake of The System attack.

During the next year after the battle with the system, Earth lived in a time of prosperity and for the most part peace.

Old foes however have long memories.

Asmodeous, enraged over the loss of his Talisman to the Crusaders and less about his daughters destruction, manipulated events for his greatest gambit… To bring Hell into the Prime Realm thus and all under his control.

The first harbingers of this crisis came in the form of the psychics of the world dreaming and seeing in visions Questor… destroying all of creation.

Mystics of the world researched and it was determined that when the Reality Gem was cast back into the Well of the Worlds it fragmented reality forcing it into a false tangent. The only way to correct the problem was to shatter the tangent and force reality back into "sync". Using a MASSIVE amount of energy focused through the Talisman of Asmodeous, this "rouge reality" could be shattered and put things right. Needless to say many of the world's heroes did NOT subscribe to this belief and attempted to stop the ritual. A cataclysmic battle took place on Liberty Island where the statue had been used in essence as a large collector capacitor for the power of the spell, between the Crusaders and the metahuman's of the UN sanctioned International Super Teams. Questor had designed bracers that would allow the Crusaders, native to the correct reality, to return when the spell was complete. Just as the ritual neared completion the Crusaders of the West Coast arrived to confront Questor. During this Questor realized that Firestorm was pregnant with Warrior's child. As the maelstrom roared around them he smiled and pushed the bracer that he was to wear into her wrist and said: "You don't get to die today. I'll explain later, it's been planned for!".

Then … Blinding light…. Death appears….. and ……Oblivion…….

But it got better….

Those Crusader's with the bracers arrived in a reality that "appeared" to be correct. The Warrior of that world arrived soon and then.. literally.. All Hell broke loose.

Asmodeous had arranged events to bring this about, realizing the ritual would move the world back into the order prior to the Reality Gem's causing it to run askew. He was there waiting for the weakened new reality as it formed and launched a full scale invasion, bringing the forces of Hell to Earth. In the ensuing battle, the Firestorm of the new reality was killed, leaving the pregnant Firestorm Questor had saved still alive when the Questor of this world came into the fight. When she saw him and went to him she handed him the bracer repeating his last words to him. The Elf's eyes glowed for a moment as he held the bracer and he laughed.. commenting on how very intelligent and sneaky he was. Questor had passed the sum of his experience to his counterpart, thus enabling him to assist in thwarting Hell's plans. Knowing where the Reality Gem lay hidden Questor went there with the Crusader's and opened its protective case, causing it to absorb the manafield from the surrounding area. This immediately stalled if not stopped the assault of the Hellspawn. Questor knowing the Gem's mere existence would only bring forces to attempt to gain its power.. used it to dispel Asmodeous and his forces and then to make it "lose itself". The Reality Gem faded from perception and the world was restored.

Some time later, the Crusaders are enjoying a brief respite and being honored in Giants Stadium. Chance has been asked to play an exhibition match solo vs. the entire Giants team, and is using his probability manipulation to really make a good game of it. Questor and Titannos are answering questions about Titannos' strength limits and embarrassing fanboyz. Virus is pondering how to hook up with the football team. Such times however can't really last, and Matrix interrupts the revelry to suggest inform us that the Citadel, super secret prison for the worst metahuman villains, is under attack. He is unable to register the attacking forces only the destruction they are raining down. "My conclusion is that its more of your realm Questor," his soothing monotone relayed. "Until you trust me with a mana-coprocessor, you're going to have to deal with it." "Forgive me if I don't want to give the all-access awakened AI MORE power," Questor retorts. Warp dashes back to tell the gathered that a pirate ship is attacking the citadel and has taken out a sortie of jets already. With a summary apology to the gathered and his characteristic snap of the fingers, the Crusaders East are aboard Matrix's jet with Chance at the helm heading for the off-shore location of the Citadel at MACH 2 (or so).

A short distance out from the Citadel, all the power drained from the Jet, our headset connections to Matrix went dead, and oh yeah Virus crumbled to her component Nanobots. Questor got that old familiar "odd" feeling, and tried to dispel the magic stopping the power to the jet... and his spell rebounded back like it was quashed! "Hrmm that was new, time for a different tactic...," the sorcerer muttered. As Chance desperately tried to bring the careening jet into control, Questor reached out with his hands and drew the magic up and BAMF the plane transformed into a giant Bird, with the passengers in a compartment strapped to its belly, Chance holding "reigns" like one would on a horse. Much better, next Questor focused the sunlight to a concentrated beam to power up Virus who began to reform as Chance steered the bird directly into the Pirate like ship attacking the complex. Closer inspection reveals that the attackers are a strange race from Questors past called the Githyanki or Gith. A colossal battle ensues culminating with an attack on Questor which he uses his "Timeslip" to skip over the second and avoid. But this was what they'd hoped for and a large stone dropped in the place he vacated, effectively trapping him on the ship in limbo until the stone was removed. Their quarry captured, the Gith returned to the Astral, leaving the bulk of the Crusaders to clean up the Citadel. A titanic struggle between Titannos and some important brick ensued with Titannos coming out victorious an the villains being returned to the Citadel.

Questor pops back into existence, surrounded by Gith. They take him to their Lich queen and she relays her plans. She plans to repeat the experiment that caused Questor to become split across the multiverse. She has distilled a concentrated volume of "anti-life" and wants to use it to destroy all the Illithids (Mind-Flayers). Questor will be the Gith's greatest hero and their most noble martyr. Many retorts culminating in a reminder that one of Questor's "selves" was willing to sacrifice himself (and a whole pocket of the multi-verse) to set the time stream right. Did she really think I wouldn't do the same...

Meanwhile back in the Citadel...
Warrior and Crusaders West finally show up, late to the party again. The East team fills them in on the happenings, and the misplacement of their erstwhile commander. Sorcerer Blue identifies the Gith, and places the probable location of Questor in the Gith's home in the astral plane. He is about to open a gate when we pick things up next week...

Tune in next time for "Butterfly Effect, Ain't it a Bitch" or "Illithid Affairs: Succeeding in spite of our Elf"

Ok that's a long one - I'll target Matt's(innocent_man) meme tomorrow. Too many blogs in one day might make my friends heads a$$plode!

So I've been tagged

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 14:07:11 GMT

I know I don't usually post much here but hey innocent_man posted this and since the last question asked us nicely to do it as well... Here goes...

1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of Livejournal?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you.
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the Macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my partner in crime or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. In one word, how would you describe me?
34. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Ok I've been suckered too...

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:19:19 GMT

I'm now in the Lost game as well... my link is here
(Updated link)